Ford India recently achieved a new milestone by rolling out its 100,000th vehicle from its Sanand plant in Gujarat. The plant has been operational for just over 14 months, which makes this quite a commendable feat for Ford India. The plant was essentially built to manufacture the Figo Aspire sub compact sedan and the new Figo hatchback which caters to both the domestic and export markets. Incidentally, the 100,000th car to come out of the Sanand plant happens to be the new Ford Figo hatchback.Ford India has invested a total of $1 billion (over ₹ 6700 Crore) in its manufacturing facility at Sanand and the plant became operational in the second quarter of 2015. The Sanand plant is the American carmaker’s second manufacturing facility in India, the first being in Chennai. As of August 2016, Ford India exports vehicles to 25 markets across the globe, including parts of ASEAN, Europe, Middle-East and Africa from its Sanand plant. The plant currently has a production capacity to manufacture 2,40,000 cars and 2,70,000 engines per year.
In fact, in the month of August itself, Ford India has managed to become the country’s largest car exporter at 17,860 units surpassing the previous export leader – Hyundai. The latter exported 16,506 units in the same month. As for its performance in the domestic market, Ford India registered a growth of 12.50 per cent by selling 8,548 units.
The new Ford Figo is currently one of the best value for money cars in its segment. Built on Ford’s latest design philosophy, the new Figo comes equipped with features like 4.2-inch SYNC 2.0 multimedia, infotainment system, automatic climate control, multi-functional steering wheel, power windows, six airbags, and ABS with EBD. Under the hood, the car comes with two petrol motors and one diesel engine that it shares with its older sibling the Aspire. The top-of-the-line 110bhp 1.5-litre Ti-VCT petrol engine makes the Figo one of the country’s most powerful hatchbacks.
